Here are some of the themes for the upcoming publishing year of Science Scope. We invite you to share your teaching ideas with your colleagues in the middle level science community. Visit mc.manuscriptcentral.com/nsta to register as an author and submit your article.
Have an idea that doesn’t fit a theme? Send it in. Our issues are a blend of thematic and general material, so we need articles on all topics. With the online submission system available at mc.manuscriptcentral.com/nsta, getting your manuscript to us is simple. Before you sit down to write, check out our manuscript guidelines.
Supporting the Common Core Curriculum: Mathematics—
September 2012
Submission Deadline: April 1, 2012
Science teachers share the responsibility of helping students develop the mathematics expertise called for in the Common Core Standards. Do you have an effective plan for working with the math teachers in your school to teach the appropriate mathematical processes and proficiencies for your grade level? Share any tips you have for seamlessly incorporating mathematical practices and content into your science investigations and activities without sidetracking valuable focused science instruction. How do you teach students of varying math maturity and abilities in the same science class? What methods do you use to prevent limited math ability from negatively impacting students’ science performance and understanding? For more information on the Common Core Mathematics Standards, click here.
Genetics, Heredity, and Reproduction—October 2012
Submission Deadline: May 1, 2012
What activities can you share that will move students beyond labeling the reproductive organs, and memorizing DNA base pairs into a comprehension of the importance of reproduction to the continuation of all life on Earth? What lessons do you use to foster students' understanding of how genetic information is passed from generation to generation to cause the characteristic traits of organisms? Do you have innovative methods to teach the vocabulary associated with reproduction, genetics, and heredity, or to help students distinguish between traits that are inherited and those that result from environmental factors? How do you teach students to recognize the role of genetic variation in natural selection, evolution, and biodiversity? How do you use technology and media resources to enhance the teaching of reproduction content? What crosscutting concepts from the new Framework for K–12 Science can be explicitly connected to this topic?
Schoolyard and Community-Based Science—November 2012
Submission Deadline: June 1, 2012
What better place for making science relevant to students' lives than the local community? Share your projects and activities for using schoolyard and local sites to teach content such as topography, weather, watersheds, bridges, and environmental issues. How do you make the most of hospitals, universities, museums, businesses, civic organizations, industry, and manufacturing facilities in your community? Have you organized community-based science events during or after school, or shared student presentations with community governing bodies, parent groups, or the media? Do you have a procedure for locating and inviting community professionals, such as electricians, plumbers, mechanics, engineers, doctors, environmental specialists, and technology experts, to speak to your science classes? Have you had students collect local data to contribute to citizen-science programs? Tell our readers about any long- or short-term authentic, community-based, student science projects.
Earth Structures, Processes, and History—December 2012
Submission Deadline: July 1, 2012
What activities do you use to lead students to understand that the Earth is comprised of an intertwined set of systems, with matter and energy cycling among them? How do you teach the rock cycle and the water cycle, and the role each plays in shaping the Earth's surface? Do you have lessons that show the nature of Earth's long- and short-term processes and constructive and destructive forces? Share any activities that foster a comprehension of the enormity of the Earth's history and the role fossils play in interpreting past environments and understanding the evolution of life on our planet. What activities can be used to help students recognize patterns of geologic activity and interactions between Earth systems? How do you use technology and media resources to enhance the teaching of Earth structures, processes, and history? What crosscutting concepts from the new Framework for K–12 Science can be explicitly connected to this topic?
Tried and True
Do you have an activity that has withstood the test of time, one that deserves a place in any collection of lab classics? Perhaps you have been doing it so long that you have forgotten where you originally found it, or you have changed it so much that it hardly resembles the original. Tell us what makes the activity worth keeping. Is it the never-fail excitement it generates with students? Is it the clarity with which it teaches a concept? Is it the ease with which it develops valued lab or process skills? What special ingredients or twists do you add to make the classic version even better?
Teacher’s Toolkit
In this column, you can share your how-to instructional strategies, practical advice, and classroom applicable results of action research with fellow middle level teachers. Tell us how you efficiently navigate today’s vast quantity of resources and websites to craft new lesson plans or to redesign/update older lessons to improve student achievement. What research-based practices do you use to guide your teaching?